Garage heater

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I wish I could buy coal where I am. I’ve used it in the past. Amazing how much heat you can get out of a little bit of coal.

They used to make stoves that were intended for coal. Probably unobtanium now.....

[elmacgyver0]

Don't fret too much about it, if the libs are allowed to stay in power much longer, they will get around to banning coal.

[cwtebay]

This is interesting. I know I recently saw on some government web site about how it had been outlawed. But now I can not find any reference to that. I have no idea what is going on there, but disregard what I said, and I am glad because maybe I can get coal for heating my shop as well. Strange.

Dang man, it wouldn't surprise me even a little in this topsy turvy political environment that it would be! My response wasn't intended to be a poke - more of an I'll be darned!

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[Nobade]

Dang man, it wouldn't surprise me even a little in this topsy turvy political environment that it would be! My response wasn't intended to be a poke - more of an I'll be darned!

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I finally figured out what happened. This has been perplexing me so I kept looking, evidently I was originally looking at a British web site. They did indeed outlaw coal and wet wood (?) for residential heating in 2021. But that hasn't happened in the US yet. I am much relieved and glad you prodded me to look into it further! I see you can even buy coal from Tractor Supply in bags if you want to pay $10 for 40 lbs.

[bensonwe]

Thanks to all that commented. Many good ideas. I decided to go with a hot dawg vented style propane. The garage is insulated and will keep the weather off the car and will be used for small projects mostly on weekends. I figure ill only heat 5-6 hrs on sat & sun. My house is an old farm house with a large basement so this is where I reload. Right next to the boiler. Nice and warm. Thanks again for all the good ideas.

[BucketBack]

Most appliance's can be converted from Nat Gas to LPG and back by using a conversion kit. For my stove, Hot water and dryer that's the the inline orifice thing.

[PhilC]

Thanks to all that commented. Many good ideas. I decided to go with a hot dawg vented style propane. The garage is insulated and will keep the weather off the car and will be used for small projects mostly on weekends. I figure ill only heat 5-6 hrs on sat & sun. My house is an old farm house with a large basement so this is where I reload. Right next to the boiler. Nice and warm. Thanks again for all the good ideas.

Smart choice IMHO.

[Bmi48219]

Oh, and coal burning stoves for home use are still being made and are perfectly legal in the US. If you can find coal, it might be a good option.

There are several types of coal, many do not perform well for residential heating.

[Wooserco]

Just moved into a new place. My shop is 24x30 with a Natural Gas ceiling mounted heater. It only cost me $1 a day to keep it a 55 degrees (for gas). BUT, because the previous owner ran a business out of the shop and had a separate meter, it was $8 a day for electricity. Two meters at the same physical address: one has to be commercial. Four times the cost per KW.

Now, I only turn on the heat when I intend to be working out there. I tend to scheduled multiple projects to minimize costs.

First time the electric bill was $140 for the shop and only $62 for the 1,900 sq. ft. house with electric water heater, stove and a well, I shut the heat down in the shop.

[gwpercle]

Just moved into a new place. My shop is 24x30 with a Natural Gas ceiling mounted heater. It only cost me $1 a day to keep it a 55 degrees (for gas). BUT, because the previous owner ran a business out of the shop and had a separate meter, it was $8 a day for electricity. Two meters at the same physical address: one has to be commercial. Four times the cost per KW.

Now, I only turn on the heat when I intend to be working out there. I tend to scheduled multiple projects to minimize costs.

First time the electric bill was $140 for the shop and only $62 for the 1,900 sq. ft. house with electric water heater, stove and a well, I shut the heat down in the shop.

Why not run the shop through the house meter and do away with the second commercial meter
or is that not possible .
Gary

[MT Gianni]

I agree with Gary, the cost to rewire it would be minimal compared to the bill. In Montana the minimum use for commercial rate was higher, the cost per KW about the same.

[BD]

the best shop heater is an infloor hydronic heat system, but if your already done building the shop I guess that ship has sailed.

This is probably true, (if you have a separate room for the boiler with outside air intake and the fuel to make it go). The biggest advantage to radiant "in floor" hydronic heat in your shop is that you can completely separate the source of the heat, (ignition source), from the flamable vapors that most shops produce.
I do hate it when the shop blows up.

[.45Cole]

If you can plumb gas to the shop I would look at a heater on FB or CL. Those units out of mobile homes are dirt cheap (like $100) and with a little ducting can really make the place nice and controlled by a thermostat.

[Plate plinker]

Don't fret too much about it, if the libs are allowed to stay in power much longer, they will get around to banning coal.

And we will have a BLACK market for coal. West Virginia will be the shine capitol and underground coal capitol too.

[Lloyd Smale]

thats not a big building if its insulated. A wall mounted non vented gas heater is cheap and very effiecient. Probably the cheapest way to heat anything unless you have time and availability to get free wood.

[MaryB]

Non vented heaters = rusty tools!